Nadan Pazha Manga Curry / Kerala Ripe Mango Curry

You either 'love' Nadan Pazha Manga Curry or 'hate' it. It's all about whether you like  ripe mangoes, made into a curry, tangy, hot and sweet with the flavour of coconut and jaggery blended in.
I should admit, everyone except my dad, back home, in Kerala, love this side dish. Amma makes it   sweeter with lesser amount of coconut, but I thought of blogging the recipe, the Kerala way :). Suma, our maid, assisted me throughout and I enjoyed the luxury of watching her making it, clicking pictures and making a note of what she had been explaining :)

Ammayi, my husband's grandma, used to make Mambazha Kuzhambu, the Tamil counterpart, which I clearly remember as a much 'easy to make' dish with a  flavourful concoction of sliced, half ripened mangoes straight from our side yard, jaggery and sambhar powder with no compromise on taste.

Back to ours, I made up my mind to make the curry, when Amma got hold of a few organic mangoes, the original naadan pazha manga. Most of them were consumed as mangoes as such and I had to battle hard to save some here for the curry :)

Nadan Pazha Manga Curry / Kerala Ripe Mango Curry 
Serves 6
Prep time- 20 mins
Cooking time - 15 mins
Total time needed - 30 mins


Ingredients:

8 small sized ripe Mangoes
1 tsp red chilly powder
1/2 tsp table salt
 2 whole green chillies, each slit until 3/4th, lengthwise
A handful or 1/4 cup scant crushed jaggery or nadan sarkara 

To grind to a paste:

1/2 cup grated coconut
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp cumin seeds / jeerakam
2 shallots / pearl onions / ulli
2 small cloves or 1 medium clove garlic

To season:

1.5 - 2 tbsps  coconut oil
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds / uluva
2 tbsps of sliced pearl onions / ulli 
A sprig of curry leaves


 Method:




Wash the mangoes well and drain in a colander. These mangoes are small sized as you see.




Peel the skin of each. You can do this easily only if they are well ripened.
Pour 1 cup of water in a sauce pan and, arrange the mangoes.  Add 1 tsp chilly powder, half a tsp salt and the green chillies and cook for 6-8 minutes.




Add along a handful of crushed molasses while simmering . You need to melt the lumps completely. (You may close the pan and simmer in lowest flame and give a gently stir now and then to assure the they are melted) while you do the grinding part, that follows...




Grind grated coconut along with turmeric, shallots, garlic adding 1/4 cup water to a paste, not too smooth, but a bit coarse.




If the jaggery has melted well, it is better to remove the pan from the stove as I did. Combine the paste by a gentle stir. Add water only if necessary. Let the curry be not too runny. Simmer for 3 minutes , to ward off  the raw smell of the paste. Check salt and add accordingly.




In the mean while, you can do the seasoning part.
Heat 1.5 - 2 tbsps of oil in a kadai, Crackle the mustard seeds, brown the fenugreek and add along the sliced onions and curry leaves. Caramelise the onions.




  Add to the curry and combine gently. Keep the curry closed for alteast an hour before serving, for the spices and sweetness to meld.

Serve with steamed rice.

 These country mangoes are fibrous as you see  above in this picture. That's the uniqueness of this delicacy. as well :)

We were four of us and had the curry, the following day too as the spices would seep in better.
So, feel free to halve the recipe :)

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